I basically switched to a nomadic game play style. I only make what I can carry and I hope I get to my body if I get killed to retrieve the items. Although the last two times I died, one of the bodies was nowhere to be found and the other time my body (corpse) appeared underwater, which is not where i died and I was not able to retrieve my items either time. Of course, that forced me to make stone items so I could create iron items all over again. I am not even bothering with steel right now.